The GSMA announced a new technical platform, the OneAPI Exchange, to deliver network capabilities to mobile apps. Operated by Apigee, this latest phase of the OneAPI global initiative has been undertaken with leading mobile operators including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone.

Building on the work of the Wholesale Application Community (WAC), which was integrated into the GSMA in July 2012, the OneAPI Exchange gives operators the choice of providing developers with either their own customized or standardized APIs. This in turn leads to better flexibility for operators to participate in the OneAPI Exchange programme, according to their own business objectives, while at the same time providing benefits of scale and reach to their developers through API interoperability.

When a developer selects and registers with an operator developer programme, they are able to build applications that utilize that operator’s APIs. The OneAPI Exchange also allows a developer to specify which other operators’ networks they would like their app to work with, so services are not limited to the customers of a single operator.

Sounds pretty awesome when you think about it as it could enable certain network functions and features to be integrated into a wider number of apps…